EUAN pays tribute to Royal Aberdeen for its staging of the Scottish Open and insists its proof that a classic old course can stand the test of time.

Justin Rose en route to victory at the 2014 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club

PHIL MICKELSON summed it up on Saturday: “It’s surprising a course this old is still testing the best players a couple of hundred years later.”

And that is cause for celebration as Royal Aberdeen struck a telling blow in the quest to keep golf in touch with its roots in the face of technology and bland design.

While Justin Rose was an impressive winner of the Scottish Open title on Sunday, his wasn’t the only triumph of the week.

The Balgownie Links was in many ways an unknown quantity as a European Tour event descended on the Granite City.

Sure it had staged the Senior Open in 2005, won by Tom Watson, plus the Walker Cup in 2011.

But arguably the biggest main tour event in Europe outwith The Open? Attended by many of the best players in the world?

There were doubts whether it would be long enough for the top guys and there were questions how the infrastructure would handle crowds in unprecedented numbers.

But the good news is Royal Aberdeen passed its first test and judging by the players’ glowing praise of the course set-up, it passed with flying colours.

Again, cause for celebration because it proves a classic old course can stand the test of time.

Over the last 15 years there has been some length added to the Balgownie to get up to the 7000-yard mark but in modern terms it’s still pretty short.

Yet that didn’t seem to hold it back last week as one big name after another was caught out and humbled by the old girl’s feisty nature.

On all four days the course presented itself in different ways due to the changes in wind direction.

Thursday, although breezy, was easier with the wind behind them after the turn and Rory McIlroy took full advantage to romp round in 64 for a new course record.

But this was to be a false sense of security as the next day it switched 180 degrees and McIlroy admits himself he was caught out by just how tough that breeze became as he slumped to a painful 78 on day two.

Even by the final day with the course soft and not a breath of wind, the best score was just one better off than McIlroy’s as Stephen Gallacher and Felipe Aguilar set a new benchmark.

This was no cake walk for the best in the business. Which should reassure those who want to see golf reclaim its soul from the American-style course designers deluded into thinking length is the only way to challenge the big hitting pros. Zzzzz.

You could sense the excitement in the players’ voices when they stepped out of the recorders hut to rave about how the course was testing every element of their game.

Here, more than most places they’ll see all year, they were asked to play with their brains first and brawn second.

It will be a few years before Royal Aberdeen welcomes the tour again as the club needs to tweak the back nine.

But the place they’re headed next summer is another classic old links of similar heritage and stature.

And I’d expect Gullane to be similarly well received as the superb challenge posed by beautiful Balgownie.